


Let's Not Be Shy

by MeanQueen



Series: Saving the Day [6]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Drama, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Woah Link’s brain is so tame in this one I’m honestly shocked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 22:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10500315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeanQueen/pseuds/MeanQueen
Summary: Link returns to the Zora Domain and reunites with his crush. But he still tries to avoid other things.  At least he and Sidon have a fun dance! Also a more-difficult-than-it-should-be talk, but hey, at least that's time spent together.Oh, and Link has an encounter with a certain monster.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops, again, I didn't edit this properly. ;v;

           

           If only Link could have stayed upset for just _one_ more day. If only he didn’t crave Sidon’s company regardless of what kind of company that meant. If only he could maintain an ounce of anger towards the large Zora.

  

           But at the same time Link was glad that he wasn’t. It wouldn’t be fair. Link knew that not returning those feelings, on top of being _bad_ at reading feelings like that in other people, wasn’t Sidon’s fault.

           

            _Sometimes people are bad with love. And sometimes it’s not for them at all,_ he thought as he trudged through wet and sinking earth. Link had held some suspicions for a while that the subject of his crush might be a bit turned-off from romantic love. Sidon had always been so unhappy and sometimes outright overwhelmed whenever his suitors tried to flirt or woo him, even if he liked them as people. _Just another reason I was being stupid to think Sidon was trying to confess feelings for me back there. I should have stuck to just being a thirsty dude._

           

           Link lead his horse Enneoh, a name the children of the Zora domain had picked for her, through the tall swamp grass and hungry ground that was the Lanayru Wetlands. He had spent a whole week away from the Zora Domain, mostly in Gerudo town, running about and doing little tasks for people-in-need. He’d also blown off a lot of steam by taking down great big beasts and pretending they were… he didn’t even know what. His ability to misunderstand things? His feelings? His need to return even though he was still sad and definitely nowhere _near_ over the prince of the Zoras yet?

           

           So here he was on his return trip, officially burnt out of staying away. And the worst part was that Link would be returning just in time to make it to the festival for the Goddess Hylia, the one Sidon had invited him to a while ago. The one he’d invited him to dance with him at _. I bet that invitation to dance isn’t still standing after I left him to vouch for my deserving Zora Armor after disregarding his and his father’s authority by,_ he thought bitterly, mad only at himself.

                   

           A faint sound caught his attention.

           

           He paused and gave his nervous horse a reassuring stroke while he listened carefully. It was a distant but ongoing noise; he couldn’t quite make it out yet.

           

           “Wait here Enneoh,” he whispered and fed her an apple, then began to trudge closer.

           

           The first word he identified was his own name, which perplexed and worried him. After a minute more of listening, he realized that it must have been a search party. Various voices were calling through the misty night air: “ _Link? Link, where are you? Please come out Link”_ and on and on.

           

           His stomach dropped. The Zora people were so worried about him that they had been sending out search parties for him. For a whole week. _What under Hylia’s sun did I do to make them think I needed searching for?!_

           

           He moved closer, pushing aside the tall grass and called, “Don’t worry! I’m here!”

           

           “Link?! Where?” Their voices sounded more relieved now. “We were so worried about you!”

           

        _This is so surreal,_ he thought as he moved. He took one step and his leg sunk into the mud up past his knee and cursed a little in his head. The mud continued to do that every so often as he moved. Eventually he saw the gentle blue lights of their lanterns.

           

           “Link I’m so sorry,” one of the voices called out from the group. Prince Sidon. It sounded like he was right beyond the reeds in front of him, and Link could see the search party’s light shining through onto the mossy ground he was approaching. He even caught a few glimpses of the Prince's red and white skin.

           

           Link slowed a bit as he came towards those reeds, which were possibly the only thing between him and that dreaded talk they were going to have. _What should I do? I guess just pull him aside and explain myself? Or, well, not explain everything but explain part of it. No maybe I should just make something up. Maybe I started feeling really ill…_

           

           “Link?!” a shockingly clear voice sounded behind him, causing him to jump. He spun around and saw Ciphe standing on a hill above the tall grass, looking at him with horror and raising one of those pretty blue lanterns of her own.

           

           Compared to the voices he’d been listening to, her voice was so crisp and it made the other voices sound very ethereal and wispy. He hadn’t even noticed. Nor had he noticed that he was chest-deep in the wetlands’ murky water. The mud he’d just been looking at wasn’t there any more.

      

           “ _L_ i _n_ k?” one of the voices he'd heard earlier flushed through his head. Now it sounded like he'd heard it through a tank of water and it definitely wasn't something he had _physically_ heard.

           

           He spun back around, splashing and struggling to swim backwards as fast as he could, panic rising in his chest.

     

           Waterlogged grey and black fingers with grimy and chipped nails were parting the reeds. They were people-sized fingers but there were just so many of them. Too many of them. While the blue glow he’d interpreted as Zora torchlight was becoming faint, along with the “search party” calls of his name, those fingers were very much physical. And so were the yellow and orange eyes that peered through the reeds at him.

                        

            Ciphe’s lantern splashed into the water in front of him and there was a whispery scream as the monster that had been looking at him through the reeds—Shy Scales?—retreated.

           

           It took Link a minute to climb out of the deep pond he’d unknowingly been lured into, and when he did he continued to scramble up onto to the debatably dry land of the hill. He spun back around and stared back at the pond.

           

           Nothing. No lights. No search party. No terrible killer monster. Only the ripples of something _big_ having descended into the pond, which couldn’t have been more than an impossibly-shallow ten feet deep at the place the ripples were originating from.

 

            _It is capable of luring people to it using physically projected sounds,_ he repeated in his head a few times. Maybe it could do visual things too, unless it was actually making those lights.

           

           Link felt a small hand on his shoulder. Ciphe.

              

           The boy was thankful that she didn’t try to talk to him. She accompanied him in silence while they retrieved his horse and began to return to the Zora Domain together, with no words. He welcomed the chance to think about what had _almost_ happened to him. Maybe she was thinking about it too.

    

           Regardless, Link _was_ glad for Ciphe’s company, and very glad that they had organized to meet out here in the wetlands. He might have been Shy Scales’s next victim if not. _Oh right,_ he remembered and pulled out a package and a note for Ciphe. He’d been told what was inside by the sender; a bunch of “yes! yes! yes!”ing, a plan to meet each other halfway and find a warm place with a lot of water together, and an expensive charm that would allow Ciphe to travel for a while without having to stick to rivers and lakes.

           

           The short black-backed Zora’s usually-bored but currently blank face brightened and she took the package and hugged it to her chest, “Thank you, Link.”

           

           He nodded with a shaky smile.

           

           A week ago when he’d been fleeing the Zora Domain after the armor fiasco, he’d run right into Ciphe. Somehow, even though he’d tried his hardest _not to_ and though he barely knew her aside from one of Sidon’s less annoying suitors, he’d let just enough words loose for her to understand his situation. It had been a huge weight off his chest, really. He’d been keeping his feelings for Sidon to himself since he realized them, so telling someone was probably why he’d only been able to stay away from the Zora Domain for a week. That, and he’d also organized to return to Ciphe with whatever her Gerudo girlfriend’s response was. The two had apparently been planning to run away with each other ever since Ciphe was forced into being one of Sidon’s suitors by Muzu and her parents.

           

           Helping these a little girls with their romantic troubles was a breath of fresh air to Link. When the two parted ways so Ciphe could go read her girlfriend’s loveletter in peace, they gave each other an awkward little “good luck and take care” goodbye hug.

           

           Now Link stood at the top of a hill from where he could see the beautiful city on the river. It looked like a cold star against the darkness of the night and with the water around it reflecting it just as brightly. The sight of the Domain and thought of returning to one particular resident made his heart was beat. _Fast_ . Faster than it had been beating when he realized he’d almost walked right into Shy Scales’ trap, but that might have been because he was a bit too shocked to feel it. Would Sidon let him fix this rough patch? _Of course he will, he’s Sidon,_ Link scoffed. He couldn't think of many things Sidon would be mad at him for, and a misunderstanding was nowhere close.

           

           All he had left to do was go there. Aaaaand maybe come up with some believable reason why he’d fled the scene so fast while he went.

           

 

 

  

* * *

 

      

           His father’s booming laughter somehow managed to bounced throughout the massive room and up onto the upper-floor balconies in spite of the tall domed ceilings, bubbling fountain, packed main floor and live band strumming their harps and beating their drums. It was a laugh that would have normally gotten Sidon laughing too despite not knowing the context, but in this scenario there was _nothing_ could make the Zora prince laugh.

           

           Not while Link wasn’t here to laugh too.

           

           People around him laughed instead. Sidon saw their heads turning to look over the railing down at the main floor at the King. He sat in a throne they had built in the great hall just for this party. He was _still_ chuckling, seemingly having a funny conversation with a messenger Rito who’d arrived to help organize a future political meeting.

           

           The prince swirled a glass of some kind of wine, feigning his enthusiasm and pretending to listen to the conversation he’d been pulled into by a few of his favorite soldiers. His eyes drifted over to the beautiful fake blue Sun suspended in the middle of the room to honor the Goddess Hylia.

           

           Sidon’s mind, of course, was full of flashes of a certain shy little smile. And sometimes a matching pair of dark blonde eyebrows scrunching together to make one of those smiles a little bit slyer. Occasionally Sidon would envision the way that someone’s rounded fingers would find their way to the bottom of his tunic and pull it down a little bit when he was unable to sit still. Which was all the time; he had far too much energy.

           

           Someone snapped in front of his face and caused him to blink back into reality and see the party around him again.

           

           Ah, it was one of his suitors. They had pushed the soldiers aside and was pursing their lips. Their lids drooped low over their eyes and they took his glass of wine, tipped it back into their mouth and then handed the empty glass to one of the soldiers who he’d been daydreaming beside. Then they purred, “Fine evening, isn’t it my prince? It seems you were just lost in thought about how fine I am too.”

           

           He looked left and then right, and then back down at them. “...What?”

           

           With a defeated groan, they slid their more delicate fingers around his hands and pulled him along after them. Hanging jewelry framed their face and it swung a bit when they tilted their head and offered what was probably supposed to be an alluring smile. “How about we dance?”

           

           Sidon cleared his throat and shook his head a little bit dumbly, not sure how else to handle this. When they looked confused, he stopped following and gently pulled his hands away from theirs. “I’m.…. not feeling like it… Not with you. Ever. But I _do_ hope you find someone fun to dance with you!" He was usually an eloquent speaker but seemed to lose his tongue in these specific situations.  
           

           The look on their pretty face was one that belonged on someone who’d just been splashed by another's drink. Hopefully they wouldn’t be throughout the night, but considering how they were acting it was a real possibility. “Well, I…!!” they hissed but shut themself up by tapping a decorated fingers over their lips. “Another time then,” they finally purred although their face seemed no less upset. And they retreated into the crowd again.

           

           Sidon tapped his foot a bit irritably. It was a rare emotion for him to be feel. But seriously, how could he be the _only one_ who felt awkward about strangers acting so flirtatiously towards him or expecting him to act that way back? He didn’t understand how people _did_ this kind of thing. Why did so many of his suitors leap right into the cringy and forced romance instead of first trying to help him get to know them, and they him? He might have _liked_ to be friends with some of these people, but they all seemed to want to skip that step. It baffled him!

           

           He saw a couple more of his suitors from the corner of his eye and tensed up for a moment when he thought they were approaching him, but that tenseness left the moment he saw what they were really doing: Dancing. Maybe not well, but in a way they enjoyed. It was Eemda and Resmo, the two who had barged in on him a long time ago in Link’s presence. He thought they hated each other! Apparently they’d worked it out: Their hands were on each other’s shoulders and waists, twirling around and dipping each other, giggling into each other’s shoulders.

           

          Sidon was very happy for them and gave them a big grin and a double thumbs up when they both spun into a finishing pose and they both spotted him. Seeing his approval, they both began to laugh and resumed staring into each other’s eyes.

           

           Sidon looked down at the main ballroom seeing many people dancing. Zoras dancing in big groups, Non-Zora showing off their foreign moves and drawing big crowds of awed onlookers, couples stepping slowly back and forth and whispering in each others’ ears.

           

            _How would Link dance? w_ as Sidon’s first thought, but he shook it away with a tiny frown.

           

           As he watched, Sidon noticed a blonde-haired head moving quickly through the crowd, leaving a wake people who had moved out of the way and were staring after him. Sidon’s heart tried to climb up out of his throat when he realized that it was Link. He was back!

   

           The Prince put on a big delighted smile—it wasn’t hard to do, he was genuinely _so_ happy to see Link again—and waved both of his arms in an attempt to catch his attention. He almost thought it had failed and was about to start racing through the upstairs halls to reach the staircase down, but he saw Link’s head shoot up and him make another beeline. Straight toward him, and not towards the stairs.

           

          _Silly little creature,_ Sidon thought fondly, although he was a little bit worried about the impending encounter. Would Link be happy? Would he be sad? Would he be fragile and require Sidon to pick his words very carefully while apologizing? Maybe Link’s week away had caused Link to lose his feelings, if he even had feelings in the first place Sidon wasn’t just imagining it. I’m so bad with these kinds of feelings, so I could have easily misinterpreted, Sidon reminded himself for the billionth time this week.

           

           When Link was almost directly below, Sidon had to lean over the railing to gesture at the double-staircase all the way behind Link. But, of course, the Hylian leapt directly onto one of the pillars supporting the floor Sidon was on and began to efficiently climb it.

           

           “Of course,” Sidon said with a fond click of his tongue.

           

           Link’s pink face popped over the railing and he scrambled hurriedly up onto it and then _threw_ himself right into Sidon’s arms without only a teary look in his eyes.

           

           The prince caught him of course, although he’d not expected such a bubblingly _friendly_ reunion. The feeling of Link’s warm little body in his arms caused the feeling he’d identified only a week ago to boom back into life, stronger than ever! He let loose one big laugh and spun his friend, his crush, his most important person in a _big_ circle and then hugged him very close. “Oh Link, I missed you.”

           

           Link was already busy burying his nose into Sidon’s neck and laughing quietly as well.

           

           While Sidon held him him like this, he could feel that dreamy and perfect equilibrium of _“This is right. This is how it should always be.”_

           

           “I’m sorry I freaked out,” Link and wiggled a bit to be let down, so Sidon did so a little bit reluctantly and kneeled so he was no longer towering over him. Link’s face was much pinker now which made Sidon wonder what kind of knowledge he was mulling over. Also his hands were shaking a bit, which made Sidon confused. Finally, the sinking of his ears made Sidon a bit worried.         

              

           “I didn’t… I…” His quiet voice suddenly transformed into a determined yell of, “HEY!”

           

           Sidon grinned wide right back, “HEY!”

           

           While the crowd around them paused in their babbling to look at the two disruptive boys, they were far too lost in each other’s faces to properly notice.

           

           “Lets go dance!” Link exclaimed with a little hop.

           

           “Yes, let’s—” _Wait._ Sidon’s excited face fell into a more contemplative look. _Maybe we should talk first, clear everything up. We could easily still be having a misunderstanding and I don’t want to jus_ _—_

           

           Link clapped, hugged Sidon again, then jumped back and raised his hands with a playful and toothy smile.

           

           Of course by doing that he’d successfully turned Sidon’s thoughts to mush. A big churning mush of sunshine and Link’s sparkling eyes and how badly he wanted to drown in them. The Zora  took Link’s hands and stood all the way back up. A quick dance wouldn’t hurt, and then they’d go sort this all out and finally be on the same page.

 

           

           

* * *

  

   

 

           Link was a little bit frustrated with himself now. And not in a sexually frustrated way just frustrated that he was _him_. He hadn’t meant to avoid any questions about what had happened that day _altogether,_ but during that trip back to the Zora Domain he hadn’t been able to come up with a worthy excuse for the Zora Prince. Sidon was smart — at least he was _most_ of the time—and if he knew Link like Link thought he knew him, he’d be able to tell when Link was lying. But then again, apparently he couldn’t tell when Link was crippled with very obvious emotions for him, so maybe the Hylians lie would somehow pass.

            

           For now he was having fun dancing with his prince charming in the middle of a freakin’ ballroom. _I feel like that one princess except with muddy boots instead of slippers and if she were able to see her man's abs and couldn't stop drooling over them. And him in general. Except I outshined the princess already by fleeing a week before the ball started._

  

           Link snickered at himself and beamed up at the dashing Zora, who moved far too gracefully for someone so large and with such proportionally short legs. How unfair was that?

           

           Meanwhile, if Link had ever been a good dancer, then _Lizalfos’ Breath_ he must have gotten _so_ rusty. He misstepped a few times and had he not had his much-smaller hands buried in Sidon’s much-bigger ones, he’d have smacked his head on the marble floor many times over by now. Whenever this happened, Sidon would simply dip him and then lift him right back up to his feet. Of course, one of those times he’d lost his balance immediately again and tripped right into Sidon’s leg, wiping his face right across it before he managed to push himself back off and into a standing position.

           

           At least that had gotten Sidon laughing a big loud genuine laugh and it almost made Link dizzier than all this spinning.

           

           Link had nervously joined him in laughing. His dancing was shakier and worse than ever though. He hoped his crush didn’t notice how red-faced he was. Or the tiny damp spot Link had accidentally left on Sidon’s leg. Truly accidentally, not fake accidentally, believe it or not. He’d been about to cry out when fell forward so he ended up accidentally kissing Sidon’s leg when he landed on it. How mortifying. How poorly-timed considering what had happened only a week ago. How exactly-the-opposite-of-what-Link-needed right now because now he sorta wanted it to happen again. So if it happened again _then in that case_ it could be fake-accidentally.  

    

           “Alright everyone,” King Dorephan’s jolly voice boomed throughout the room. “Now’s about the time you should seek out the person most important to you!”

           

           Link heard Sidon’s attentive gasp and looked up with a little frown. _That_ dance? Already?

           

           And of course, bless his forgiving heart, Sidon gave Link a questioning and said, “Link would you care to continue this dance?”

           

           A quick nod sealed Link’s fate.

           

           The glint of Sidon’s teeth was charming but his smile was a bit sly this time. “How about we dance somewhere private instead though?”

           

         _Uhhhhh._

           

           Sidon stepped back, leading Link along and never taking his eyes off him. It made Link’s heart beat wildly. He knew this was going to be trouble. This was certainly going to be the talk, the one he’d been avoiding. Somehow, Sidon’s first “dick-move” was a very smooth move at the same time, and Link didn’t see any way to get out of this.

           

           They found themselves in some kimd of a greenhouse. There were three glass walls and the last was an elaborately carved blue-marble one that lead back to the party. There were pools in here and plants growing inside those pools. The water glowed, as usual. _How can one domain have so many romantic potential makeout spots,_ was his immediate conclusion.

           

           Sidon had begun to step back and forth slowly to the tune that barely made it into the room. Link was able to follow this more easily. It wasn’t _the_ dance, but it was a dance. He preferred it this way over the real one he'd barely seen anyways.

           

           “I think we’ve had a misunderstanding, and I want to set it right,” Sidon began calmly, his eyes centered on Link’s face in such a way that Link felt a bit flippy on the inside. How was he doing that? This talk was _just_ supposed to be uncomfortable, but on top of that Link was melting. “So, let’s not be shy about it. I want to talk about how we f—”

           

           Link’s fear of disappointing Sidon caused him to blurt, “I’m sorry,” and he looked down at the floor. “I’m really sorry I ran out on you and your father and Muzu. But I wasn’t feeling well at all. I’m happy we had fun just now.” He was a hurricane of various feelings. Yes, happy was definitely one of them, but he was kind of scared too. How was he going to get Sidon to trust him again?

           

           “I am feeling happy too,” the red Zora chuckled and tilted his head, seemingly temporarily distracted. That proud look was replaced with something more adoring and disarming. “It is so good to have you back, Link. That week without you really opened my eyes and… I’m so thrilled that you’re here! With me. That we’re together again.”

           

           “It’s good to be back,” Link said a bit feebly. This sappy chat was going to take a turn for the worst any minute now. An interrogation about why he left Sidon to defend Link’s right to have Zora armor in order to defeat Shy Scales even if he couldn’t respect their authority enough to stay through the meeting...Wait, _SHY SCALES!_

           

           “I saw Shy Scales,” Link blurted, talking over Sidon who had just started a sentence with, “Link, I—”

           

           Sidon was immediately shut up, clacking his teeth as his jaw snapped shut.

           

           “Just an hour ago. I think… it’s a ghost? Or… and it is definitely teleporting, I’m sure,” he rambled, searching desperately for more details. He was weirdly grateful that this news seemed to be distracting Sidon, but he felt a bit guilty that he wasn’t taking news about the monster as seriously as he was the need to avoid finally hearing Sidon be ashamed of him. “Shy Scales has a lot of fingers. And it can kinda talk but not really out loud? It’s got telepathy powers I guess. Which it uses to lure you to it! And you don’t notice that you’re even in the water, you think you’re still walking.”

           

            “Did it try to hurt you?”  Sidon said and he kneeled and gently cupped one side of Link’s face in his hand.

 

          The gesture _obliterated_ Link’s ability to think clearly. Or hear clearly because his heart started to boom like those drums outside. He jerkily lifted his own hand and almost touched Sidon’s face right back, but forced it back down with his other arm as if it were malfunctioning.

         
  
           Maybe Sidon didn’t see that. He was focusing very hard on Link’s face, waiting for an answer.

                                   

           “N- well… A friend helped me realize what was going on and I got away without a scratch. It might have been trying to, maybe.”

           

           The way Sidon’s jaw dropped a tiny but and the rest of his face contorted to portray a genuine terror hurt Link to see. "It did try."

           

            _Sidon should never have to feel that way,_ Link decided. “Hey it was an easy escape though! Don’t worry.” He patted Sidon’s hand, still holding Link’s warming face, and forced a chuckle that for once came out pretty smoothly. “I’ll be able to handle this monster, got it?” _Nooot so sure I can but I guess they say “fake it till you make it” for a reason._            

           

           His handsome shark prince still looked a bit worried. After a quick nip of his white lip that Link tried not to obsess over, Sidon declared, “Got it and I’m looking forward to fighting it with you. I believe in you always.”

           

           They stared at each other for a long moment and Link ruined the stillness by taking Sidon’s hand from his face and rubbing it. It was a good hand. Belonging to a good person and he didn’t want to let the owner of this hand down. “I believe in you too,” he said honestly.

           

           The hand tensed a bit and Link saw its fingers spread a little bit. The the arm angled more sharply into the hand as Sidon stood abruptly. Link looked up at him and saw Sidon’s frowning face looking towards the door.

 

           That’s when Link realized that music they’d been listening to had been replaced by panicked cries. He released Sidon’s hand.

           

           Sidon pushed the door open and the King’s bellows of, “Everyone stay calm! It will be handled!” flooded into the room along with the crowd’s screams.

  

           Link pushed past Sidon and poked his head out of the room to look.

           

           People were flooding into the ballroom from the very far side and Link kept hearing “monster” in the frightened garble of hundreds talking at once.

           

           He darted out of the room, followed closely by Sidon who seemed to have a similar thought, and they pushed their way determinedly through the crowd to reach those great big doors and face the “monster” people were fleeing from. As they were nearing the door, Link heard a "Wait, Link," from behind him and bounced to a stop, glancing hurriedly back at Sidon and then at the door. Sidon was scowling at the doorway, shaking his head. "Nevermind, this is far too awful a time and we've got to go." And he continued in his quick and powerful stride right past Link.  
         

           
           Link's relief felt very out of place, but it was there all the same. He fell into a quick pace right behind Sidon and even grabbed his hand to make sure they didn't get separated.

           
           In true Prince Sidon fashion, the Zora gave his hand a _"we can do it!"_ squeeze as they made it through the doors to face the monster together.

 

    

  

  

**Author's Note:**

> Doooon't worry, the "when will they confess?" thing won't be dragged out for too long :P
> 
> I saw quite a few of you wondering if he was going off to fight shy scales and this chapter was halfway written and i was like "LMAO WHY DIDN'T I TIHNK OF THAT" like,,.?? Man I should have you guys writing this for me.  
>  
> 
> More to come!  
> Although this time I'll need you to be more patient with me than usual because I'm way too busy to write on weekends. :'0


End file.
